Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital and largest city of Iraq. Founded in 762 by Caliph al-Mansur as the new capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, its name means "God's gift" in Middle Persian, and it has grown to be the second-largest city in the Arab World after Cairo. During the Middle Ages, it was the largest city in the world, with a population of 1,200,000 people, but in 1258 the Mongol Empire destroyed the city and massacred the Muslim inhabitants, leaving only the Christians alive. However, Baghdad was rebuilt and became a center of the Arab world in 1938 upon the independence of the Kingdom of Iraq from the United Kingdom, and it served as the capital of Iraq for many decades afterwards. During the Gulf War and Iraq War, Baghdad suffered massive damage, coming from the intense bombing in 1991 in the former and from the several battles between the United States and Iraqi insurgents in the latter war. The city was subject to regular insurgent attacks, and in 2012 it was rated the least-hospitable place to live and the worst quality-of-life major city out of a list of 221 cities. Baghdad has been separated between Sunni neighborhoods and Shia ones such as Sadr City, and the city has been a major battleground during the Iraq War.